Dabo Swinney wants annual Clemson-Georgia game
Clemson already plays South Carolina every year, and it did the same with Georgia for nearly 25 years.
From 1962 to 1987, the Tigers and Bulldogs met on almost a yearly basis until an expanded SEC schedule got in the way on the UGA side. Since then, the two sides have played just eight times, most recently in 2013 and 2014, increasing the series to a total of 64 games (UGA leads the series 42-18-4).
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney thinks it should be an every-year occasion.
“Absolutely,” Swinney said when asked whether he would like to play Georgia every year. “I think it’d be great for both fan bases. I’ve said that for a long time. We’re going to play somebody like that every year. We go to Texas A&M this year, then they come to us. We played Auburn a bunch of times. So I think that would be great.”
On top of the annual rivalry game with South Carolina, Clemson has scheduled SEC opponents regularly throughout Swinney’s tenure. The Tigers swept a home-and-home series with Auburn the last two seasons and have Texas A&M on tap in 2018 and 2019.
Could Georgia find its way back onto the Clemson slate? Swinney hopes so.
“It’d be great for the fan bases. You don’t really look forward to playing Georgia. There’s a good chance you can lose,” Swinney said. “But any time you step out of conference and play the Texas A&Ms, Auburns, whoever else we play, those are big challenges, but that’s how we built our program.”
There would be hurdles to make that happen, however. The ACC and SEC play eight-game conference schedules while also requiring one game against an out-of-conference Power Five foe. Clemson and Georgia already play South Carolina and Georgia Tech, respectively, each season.
That doesn’t leave a whole lot of room on a 12-game schedule for another annual game, does it?
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Sam Cooper is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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